The Phoney war, a term used to describe the relative peace and lack of military action in Western Europe in the first months of WWII, doesn’t mean that absolutely nothing happened, but rather that there was an overall semblance of remaining peace among the countryside as well as the cities. It’s interesting to note that based on the description of Berlin between September 1939 to April 1940 in Berlin At War, by Roger Moorhouse, the Phoney war seems to have reached even the capital of Germany. Why does it seem to have been in Berlin?
- Rationing was established. This indicated the creation of a war, but the rationing that was in place in the first couple of months still enabled Berliners to eat in relatively the same fashion. One time, the book mentioned Berliners enjoying good weather by picknicking of all things. Whether they had plentiful food to do this with or not is questionable, but even emerging from outside to recreationally enjoy the weather shows their overall feeling of safety.
- Sand Bags. Sand bags were placed around for protection against bombing and air raids. The creation of these bags, however, became a community event in Berlin neighborhoods, with everyone participating, and everyone in good spirits. Yes, they didn’t like the association these sand bags had—that of war—but they took it lightly, nonetheless.
- The Christmas of 1939 was full of “minor inconveniences” in Berlin. It’s true that many of the traditional gifts, such as soaps and candies, could not be obtained, or were so expensive as to be virtually unobtainable. However, many Berliners still had access to, and purchased, a Christmas tree, just ones that weren’t viewed through open curtains in the streets, but hidden behind black out curtains.
The Phoney war’s reach into Berlin originally struck me as a little odd, considering the location and importance of Berlin. But taking under consideration many things that only the start of a war could have, afterwards it makes sense. Although rationing came early, in part due to the landlocked location of Germany, at the start of the war the country would still have had plenty of resources and stores of materials with which to make the rationing seem less important. This also plays into the seeming ease of acquiring festive Christmas items like trees. Also, air raids did not become frequent or disastrous until after the Nazi entrance into Paris. This was in part due to the difficulty of locating cities with just-emerging radar technology, in part the overarching belief that civilians should not be targeted during a war, and in part due to the affect the Phoney war had on England—the major player in bombing Germany.
Nonetheless, the Phoney war ends, and so too do the “good times” at the beginning of WWII for Berlin. While we, as a class, continue reading Berlin At War in preparation for our trip to Germany and Poland, I fully expect to see the impact of WWII play out across civilian experiences in Berlin.
Another very good post, Rachel.
One issue you raise–the absence of British bombing of Berlin during the phony war–can also be explained by lack of aircraft. The British had just begun production of long-range bombers in 1938. They have very few at this time. Another thing to consider is that Neville Chamberlain is still prime minister. He will order bombing of Germany in the spring (1940), but that is only after the “phony” war had ended.
There were a few things about rationing in Berlin at War that shocked me! This quote from page 21 in particular was surprising: “He was lucky to escape with his booty intact: the new legislation against hoarding meant that some of the more punctilious shopkeepers were already insisting on opening all tins immediately upon purchase”. It seems to me that you would barely be able to make it home with an open tin of sardines before they would have gone bad! They definitely had to be used that night, and I cannot even imagine the feeling that that evoked on the people of the city. Living with that mindset of basically day-to-day food preparation and eating would have put me in a mood of hysteria. Especially for those with families, what would have happened if food would have been in shortage and not all of your children had enough to eat? While it seems that at this time, food wasn’t in shortage and the people of Berlin did not have to change their habits very much, just the assignment of rationing, to me, would have evoked a sense of hysteria and urgency. I cannot imagine what that would look like in today’s world, with a much higher population and the way in which food is distributed, or how people of today would react to such a limiting lifestyle.